Defending the Separation of Laws! Keep Fanatics Off OUR Constitution!

Scott Helps Suppressive Regimes

What’s Rick Scott up to by supporting suppressive regimes?

Here we are putting our soldiers in high risk areas with fanatical social conservative terrorists, and they terrorize in order to suppress freedoms of the people through religious dogma. Yet we have people like this guy supporting these same regimes?

What’s going on here? We should just bring our soldiers home! People suppressing information creates an environment of distrust. People in those regimes don’t know us and we don’t know them, really.

A report released on Tuesday calls out former hospital CEO Rick Scott for sitting on the board of a company used by Saudi Arabia and Iran to suppress Internet access. In recent months, Scott has become the most high-profile conservative activist working to oppose the health care reforms backed by the Obama administration.

The newly formed organization Media Matters Action Network released a document on Tuesday detailing Scott’s links to the Internet monitoring company Secure Computing, and the use of that company’s software by some of the world’s most oppressive regimes.

The findings add another politically provocative element to the battle over health care reform. While officials with Secure Computing did not immediately return requests for information on Scott’s work or compensation, the optics could be problematic. Scott has pledged to spend more than $5 million of his own money to build resistance to greater government involvement in the health care industry. Where that money comes from changes the perception of his opposition.

Scott secured his board position in early 2006 after the company for which he previously worked — CyberGuard — was bought by Secure Computing for $295 million. According to Hoovers.com, Scott received $35,000 per year for serving on Secure Computing’s board. He also received a half share of Secure stock and $2.73 for each CyberGuard share that was purchased. According to the company’s website he remains in his Secure Computing post, though an SEC filing says he left in November 2008.